snowdeal.org > ex machina: wherein i rant about the absurdity of lawns.

ex machina

wherein i rant about the absurdity of lawns.

at the risk of offending those among us who are fans of maintaining them, i'll admit that i've always found the concept of the manicured lawn to be, well, weird. i mean, why should i spend my precious free time ( all the more precious with a four year old in the family ) spreading petroleum-based fertilizers and herbicides on my yard to make grass grow faster so i have to mow it more often? it makes even less sense when you spend a little time reading about statistics related to the american lawn:

"58 million Americans spend approximately thirty billion dollars every year to maintain more than twenty-three million acres of lawns….the same-sized plot of land could still have a small lawn for recreation and produce all the vegetables needed to feed a family of six. The lawns in the United States consume around 270 billion gallons of water a week - enough to water eighty-one million acres of organic vegetables, all summer long."

i've long ago stopped using fertilizers and herbicide and have a fairly sizable garden, but still, i can't help think there must be more i can do to convert every last inch of my lawn into something more environmentally friendly than turf grass. i wonder what my neighbors would think in i went for a native grass lawn. in the meantime maybe i should make some violet syrup.

bookmark: del.icio.us ::digg it ::furl ::reddit ::yahoo ::

5/11/2008 10:39:00 PM 1 comments

1 Comments:

M apparently read something recently about MOSS as a grass-replacement. It's dense, soft, you don't need to mow it, and weeds can't grow in it. Might be worth looking into. :^)

We have foregone chemicals, only water at the point we figure we're in danger of the neighbors torching it to justify the damage we're doing to property values, and keep it relatively long.

M is waging a one-man, chemical-free war on dandelions and violets. I quite like the latter, but they are EXCEEDINGLY invasive and were choking out the groundcover so he's pulling them, too.

By Sarah, at 12:05 PM

Post a Comment

[ rhetoric ]

“"it is hard to be brave," said piglet, sniffing slightly, "when you're only a Very Small Animal." rabbit, who had begun to write very busily, looked up and said: "it is because you are a very small animal that you will be Useful in the adventure before us."”

the complete tales & poems of winnie the pooh

[ about ]

this site chronicles the continuing adventures of my son, odin, who was unexpectedly born on the fourth of july at 25 weeks gestation, weighing 1 pound 7 ounces.

he's quite a fighter and you can always send him a postcard to the most current address listed here if you're inspired by his adventures. see the postcard project/google maps mashup to see a map of the postcards.

if you're new, you can browse the archives to catch up. and don't forget to watch a few movies that i made while we were in the neonatal intensive care unit. or if you want the abridged version and you can find a copy, you can read about his adventures in the november 2005 issue of parents magazine.

[ search ]

[ outbound ]